House Concurrent Memorial 2007 is a nonbinding legislative memorial urging Arizona’s State Mine Inspector and the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality to work with federal agencies and private-sector partners to identify eligible abandoned hardrock mine sites in Arizona and apply for a federal pilot program created by the Good Samaritan Remediation of Abandoned Hardrock Mines Act of 2024. The memorial frames the issue as both an environmental and public-safety concern, citing the large number of abandoned mines in Arizona and the risks they pose through unsecured shafts, contaminated water, and legacy pollution.
The memorial emphasizes that the federal Good Samaritan program is intended to let qualified parties remediate abandoned mine sites without assuming liability for past contamination, provided the project is low-risk and the applicant is not a responsible past owner or operator. It also highlights Arizona’s mining history and the state’s existing expertise in mine reclamation and environmental regulation, arguing that Arizona is well positioned to participate in the pilot program and accelerate cleanup of legacy mining sites.
Impact
HCM2007 does not change Arizona statutes or create new regulatory requirements; instead, it expresses the Legislature’s support for using the federal Good Samaritan pilot program and directs the Secretary of State to transmit the memorial to state officials and Arizona’s congressional delegation. Its practical effect is to encourage coordination among the State Mine Inspector, ADEQ, federal agencies, and private entities to pursue remediation of abandoned hardrock mines, especially sites involving soil and water contamination and public safety hazards.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have been broadly favorable and largely noncontroversial in committee, passing the House Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee 10-0, the House Rules Committee 7-0, and the Senate Natural Resources Committee 8-0. It also passed the House unanimously on third reading. The Senate third reading vote was more divided at 19-7, but the overall record still suggests substantial bipartisan support for the memorial’s goals of mine cleanup, environmental protection, and public safety.
Contention
The main points of tension are not about the memorial’s general purpose, but about the broader policy and implementation issues surrounding abandoned mine remediation. The text acknowledges challenges in identifying responsible owners or operators, coordinating among local, state, and federal partners, and ensuring that projects qualify as low-risk under the federal program. Any opposition likely centers on concerns about liability, eligibility, or the practical difficulty of selecting sites and securing resources, rather than on the concept of cleanup itself.
Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 4776) to amend the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to clarify ambiguous provisions and facilitate a more efficient, effective, and timely environmental review process; providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 1366) to provide for the location of multiple hardrock mining mill sites, to establish the Abandoned Hardrock Mine Fund, and for other purposes; providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 845) to require the Secretary of the Interior to reissue regulations removing the gray wolf from the list of endangered and threatened wildlife under the Endangered Species Act of 1973; providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 3616) to require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to review regulations that may affect the reliable operation of the bulk-power system; providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 3632) to amend the Federal Power Act to adjust the requirements for orders, rules, and regulations relating to furnishing adequate service, to require owners or operators of generating facilities to provide notice of planned retirements of certain electric generating units, and for other purposes; and providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 4371) to amend the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 to enhance efforts to combat the trafficking of children.